Monday Mindset

Is it Monday?  It feels like it should be the day after the day after the day after Friday, but not Saturday or Sunday.

That's because I've been working since last Monday, but without a weekend. 

Remember when I said that I was going to get more work/life balance this year?  Well don't worry - I plan on working will work 4 day weeks for the next month to make this up to myself.

Despite the workload, I've managed to start the new year right by sticking to my running schedule for the month.  It was a balmy -2C in Whitehorse yesterday and I took advantage of a break in my day to head out for a run.  It took me some time to find a road with cleared sidewalks, so I was slow at the start and finish as I ran through deeper snow on the snowmobile trails that run along side the main roads here in the winter, but I was able to get out for 7K.  I wish I'd taken a photo of the snow covered hills around town - it's beautiful here.

This morning the wind was a little more wicked, and I was not sure if I would have a break while the sun was up (10am - 4:30pm), so I went to the Canada Games Centre for 5K on the treadmill and a good stretch.

This week I want to keep checking those runs off of my schedule and focus on getting to bed at a decent hour.  My sleep schedule is still out of whack from the holidays, but I'm getting back on track.  :)

Food Journal - Week One

In university I took a course called, "Right to Food."  For one assignment we had to write down everything we ate for 3 days and calculate all of the nutrients, calories, and costs for each item.  It took me forever to get 3 consecutive days that I wasn't completely embarassed to hand in.  Cookies for breakfast?  Beer for lunch?  3 cans of coke in a day?  It really made me think about what I was putting in my body, and what I was getting from it, and I made changes.  I cut out pop completely, and it wasn't long after that that I became a vegetarian. 

Over the years, some bad habits have crept back in, and it's never more apparent than over the holidays and other busy, stressful times.  So with a stressful, busy week of work coming right after the holidays, I welcomed Amanda's suggestion to do a month long food journal in January.

A look back at this week has drawn no surprises when it comes to food.  I know that my holiday eating habits went from bad to worse, and this week I was just making my way through the leftovers.  I also recorded my daily exercise (30 minutes+, 6 days out of 7), my hours spent working, and my wake up and bed times along with some notes on how I felt at different times throughout the day. 

One thing that did surprise me is that I went to bed feeling hungry a couple of nights.  I think that knowing that I was writing everything down (and appalled at what I saw on the page for the rest of the day) kept me from snacking on more sweets in the evening.  So rather than not going for a bowl of ice cream while watching tv, I just didn't have anything, and then felt hungry.  This week I'm going to try some post-dinner fruit to quash the sweet craving and stop the hunger.

Once I got rid of the leftovers in the kitchen, I headed out of town for work, so my food options have been different than normal and my sleep patterns have been wonky.  I stay away until Wednesday of next week, so the sleeping thing has to get under control - soon!  That is my focus for the coming week.

2012 Race Plan

After they ran out of Gu and water last year at the BMO Vancouver Marathon, and the gong show at bag drop off the year before, I swore I would not run another one of these events.

Well, never say never.

Back in December I was being inundated with emails from about the new course, and....

....I signed up!  I know having something to train for keeps me motivated, and this race is good timing for me to work back up from practically no running through the fall, and will give me the base to make a fall marathon possible.  Who knows, maybe third times a charm?!

I'm still looking for other races to put in my 2012 schedule, and still deciding if this will be another marathon year (Victoria?/Seattle?/Toronto?/Mississauga?), but so far I'm planning to run:

March 18 - The River Spring Run Off - 10K

May 6 - BMO Vancouver 1/2 Marathon

June 3 (?) - Prince George Family Y 1/2 Marathon

Other than that, I don't have anything planned for sure.  If I'm going to run a fall marathon, I'll decide in May.  For now, I'll just see how it goes and enjoy building my base back up.  With 4 cannotwaittogetoutthedoor runs in 4 days, it's going pretty well so far.

Monday Mindset

I'm starting this week feeling motivated and ready to go!

I couldn't wait to get out for my run this morning, and it's great to have that feeling back.  In an attempt to keep myself from getting burnt out and unmotivated again, I'm trying to vary my running routes as much as possible, rather than waiting til I get bored to switch things up.  I ran an out and back route and on the way out I felt like I could go forever.  I'm also trying to prevent injury by not letting myself get too carried away, so I let myself run an extra .5K out and turned my 5K run into 6K.  Nothing extreme, but it felt good to do just that little bit extra.

It was 4*C today and a nice treat to run without the bulky mittens and multiple layers and just go out in a long sleeve and run, carefully avoiding the ice that's still on the roads, of course.

I made a month long plan last week, taking into account when I'm travelling, when my workload will be heaviest, and where I want to be by the end of the month so that I can start 1/2 training in February (more on that soon).  I got an unplanned run in yesterday, so I'm already ahead of the game!